226 



NA TURE 



[August 19, 1909 



that out of the eight species of Irish birds which maUi? 

 ■ domr-d nests, six lay larger clutches of eggs than birds 

 whicli are content with open nests. 



The August number of British Birds contains reproduc- 

 tions from eight very remarkable photographs of a 

 water-rail taken by Miss E. L. Turner. Some of these 

 exhibit the bird in the act of removing its young from 

 the nest ; but whether this action represents a normal or 

 an abnormal trait remains to be decided. To have 

 obtained these beautiful photographs of such a shy and 

 wary bird as the water-rail is a great triumph for the 

 artist. We may also refer to a note by Mr. F. J. Stubbs, 

 in which attention is directed to the fact that on certain 

 Yorkshire grouse-moors there is no heather or heath, the 

 place of which is taken by crowberry, and that on such 

 grounds the birds, so far as can be ascertained, are free 

 from disease. 



We have to welcome a new biological serial, the Trans- 

 actions of the Royal Society of South Africa, of which we 

 have received the first part of vol. i., comprising 319 pages 

 of text and twenty-four plates. Among the more important 

 articles, reference may be made to Mr. R. B. Newton's 

 report on Cretaceous shells from Zululand. Many of 

 these are identical with or nearly allied to South Indian 

 Cretaceous forms, especially those from the Trichinopoli 

 group ; and it is specially interesting to note that some 

 of these indicate a connection between the Cretaceous fauna 

 of Trichinopoli and Angola. This suggests that the great 

 tropical land-barrier shown in Neumayr's map of the 

 Jurassic epoch had become partially broken up by 

 Cretaceous times. Another important communication is 

 the first part of Dr. L. P^ringuey's descriptive catalogue 

 of South African Colcoptcra, dealing with the family 

 Mcloida;. 



Owing to a severe outbreak of a fungal disease in the 

 mulberry nurseries near Srinagar, connected with the silk 

 industry in Kashmir, Dr. E. J. Butler was deputed by 

 the Indian Government to investigate the matter. The 

 results of his investigation are published in the Memoirs 

 of the Department of Agriculture in India (vol. ii.. No. S). 

 The disease was traced to Coryncum mori, a fungus of 

 the Melanconiales, previously recorded only from Japan. 

 The fungus is a wound parasite which found its oppor- 

 tunity after a severe frost ; it was also discovered on 

 mulberry trees outside the nursery, and on a jungle tree, 

 CcUis caucasicum. Reference is also made to three other 

 fungi: Scplogloeum mori, producing leaf-spot; Phyllactinia 

 corylea, a mildew ; and the bracket-fungus Polyporus 

 hispidus — none of which, however, were doing much 

 damage. 



The curious instances of polymorphism in the flower 

 which occur in the orchid Cycnoches are described by Mr. 

 R. A. Rolfe in the Kew Bulletin (No. 6), where he pro- 

 vides a revision of the genus. The production of flowers 

 so different in appearance puzzled Lindley and other 

 botanists until the solution was found in the dissimilarity 

 between staminate and pistillate types. Nine species a'e 

 recorded for which both types are known, and in iis 

 cases only the staminate flowers have been definitely 

 identified. Two sections of the genus are recognised; in 

 the Eucycnoches the difference lies chiefly in the column 

 and attached sexual organs ; in the Heteranlha; the dis- 

 tinction is more marked, as the staminate flowers are 

 smaller, sometimes different in colour, and the lip is re- 

 • duced to a small disc margined with clavate teeth. 

 NO. 2077, "\'OL. Si] 



Investig.wions on abstruse points in plant morphology 

 have within recent years engaged the attention of several 

 Austrian botanists. Two papers appear in the Bulletin 

 International (1907), the official publication of the 

 Acaddmie des Sciences de TEmporcur I''ran(;ois Joseph I., 

 Prague. Miss M. Doubek contributes a discussion of 

 the much-debated nature of the tendrils in the Cucur- 

 bitacea;. An explanation is constructed on the hypothesis 

 of adnation by different axes. The least complex ex- 

 amples — they cannot be described as simple — are furnished 

 by Luffa and Cucurbita, but the author also offers solu- 

 tions of the more difllcult cases provided by Brvonia, 

 Cyclanthera, and other genera. The second paper, com- 

 municated by Dr. B. Nemec, deals with regeneration in 

 the unifoliate plant Streptocarpus Wendlandii. Some of 

 his experiments were made with irregularly regular speci- 

 mens bearing two well-developed cotyledons. 



The arrangement of the botanical garden of the Johns L \ 

 Hopkins University, which is described in the University f I 

 Circular (No. 217), shows some novel features. The 

 garden, which is being established primarily as an aid to 

 botanical research and instruction, is divided into four 

 sections. Two are planned for the cultivation of typical 

 forms illustrating vegetative and reproductive organs. 

 The third is devoted to plant relationship, as exemplified 

 by species, genus, &-c., extending to systems of classifica- 

 tion for which Engler's system is selected for complete 

 exposition. The fourth section contains two divisions, 

 one for economic, the other for cultivated plants. The 

 latter should be quite the most interesting feature in the 

 garden. The three genera Dianthus, Rosa, and Chrysan- 

 themum are chosen as types to indicate the origin and 

 natural relationship of horticultural races. Cultivated 

 roses are arranged under fifteen sections, and in addition f 

 eight groups of hybrids are illustrated. j 



A PAMPHLET published by the Hawaiian Sugar-planters' I 

 Association as Bulletin No. 9 of the division of pathology 

 and physiology is devoted to an investigation by Messrs. 

 L. Lewton-Brain and Noel Deerr of the bacterial flora of 

 Hawaiian sugars. Sugar agar was the most satisfactory 

 medium, as, for some reason undetermined, it was 

 impossible to get a good gelatin preparation. Another 

 difficulty was presented by what the authors term a 

 " weed-bacillus " that produced its spores within twenty- 

 four hours, and so escaped sterilisation. The practical 

 object was to isolate and identify types of bacteria with 

 the view of studying their action on moist sugars. Five 

 different types were distinguished by the shape of the 

 individuals or of the colonies formed in different media ; 

 their general action is to reduce the sucrose and form 

 invert sugar, gum, or other products in sugars containing 

 I per cent, or more of moisture. 



The Purdue University Agricultural E.xporiment Station 

 has issued a pamphlet (Circular No. 15) on the growth of 

 onions, an important crop in northern Indiana to which 

 many hundreds of acres are annually devoted. The 

 methods adopted on the large scale are described at length, 

 and suggestions are offered for improvement ; curing and 

 marketing are also dealt with. Another pamphlet deals 

 on similar lines with the Indiana cantaloup industry. In 

 Bulletin No. 134 Messrs. Hunziker and Spitzer discuss 

 methods for the estimation of fat in unsweetened evaporated 

 milk. Since the introduction by the Act of Congress, 

 1906, of the new pure food standards requiring a definite 

 minimum per cent, of fat and solids in evaporated milk, 

 the product from numerous milk-condensing factories has 

 been found below standard, rendering them liable to 



